MORALITY-BASED DEMOCRACY. In our time when approval of democracy has fallen to new lows around the world, we should remember how hard-won and valuable democracy has been, before we lose it.
See 9 min. video: Democracy Declines, Authoritarianism Rises Around the World
Democracy arose after an era of the absolute power of European kings. For instance, we remember Louis XIV of France as one notorious tyrant. This power passed from each king to his heir, generation after generation, with no end in sight. But in 1688 the Catholic King James II of England lost power in the midst of widespread riots.
The populace was protesting his suspension of Parliament and his prosecution of seven Anglican bishops. But they did not raise up another king right away. First, Parliament voted for a Bill of Rights which would limit the king’s power.
The Bill of Rights made the king subject to the law. It declared that election of members of Parliament should be free. It gave members of Parliament freedom of speech, and Protestants the right to bear arms. These and other freedoms and rights were called “ancient”. Because God had endowed them. Later they extended to all citizens.
Morality-based democracy relies on God-given natural law
The 1688 Bill of Rights reflected the ideas of John Locke. So did the US Declaration of Independence in 1776. Locke declared all men equal because they all came from the hand of the same Creator.
All men belonged to Him. Therefore no one else—neither king nor commoner—could take away their life, health, liberty, or possessions. Because they were given by God.
Those who tried to take them away violated the moral natural law that bound all men. This was the Golden Rule. Namely, that we should love other people as ourselves because we are all equally loved by our Maker.
Locke said that whoever violated this moral law by murdering one man “declared war against all mankind.” Therefore he “may be destroyed as a lion or a tiger.” Locke considered those who defied the moral law as beasts, not men. Accordingly, they lacked the same rights that men had.
Likewise, kings showed themselves as beasts when they tried to take away men’s God-given freedom. This showed their intent “to take away everything else.” For freedom was “the foundation of all the rest.”
Therefore, a king “who attempts to get another man into his absolute power, does thereby put himself into a state of war with him.” In this way, Locke justified war against kings. A century later his teachings served as the basis for the US Revolutionary War. Subsequently many other nations, too, gained their freedom and democracy only at the cost of war.
Locke considered such a war as a just war of defence. A king begins the war by attacking men’s innate freedoms. That king shows himself to be a beast by brutally repressing any challenge to his unjust rule.
Brutality-based statism opens the way for the ultimate “beast”
Similarly, the Book of Daniel portrays four successive kingdoms as terrifying beasts. First a lion, then a bear, then a leopard. Then the most dreadful beast of all devours and tramples down the rest (Dan. 7:2-8). Ultimately this beast becomes the Antichrist, called “the beast” in the Book of Revelation.
Many who now who disparage democracy are unwittingly preparing the way for this beast. They take away freedoms and impose political correctness, socialism or another form of statist humanism. But humanism without God eventually leads to beastly brutality.
To the contrary, democracy has moral and religious foundations which cannot support a brutal ruler for long. Moreover, a constitutional democracy is a favourable condition for the gospel. It guarantees rights which create a level field for all. In such a setting, Christians can show that no one compares with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Therefore, when the beast arises to claim lordship, he will do away with democracy. And he will wage war against Christians (Rev. 13:7-8). Till then, we must make the most of our rights and freedoms while we still have them.
Read more in Democracy Dissatisfaction Rating Rises Globally
ETG articles related to morality-based democracy:
God’s Kingdom Guarantees vs Socialist Guarantees, Pt.1
God’s Kingdom Guarantees vs Socialist Guarantees, Pt.2
How Did Socialism Rise in US and the West?
God’s Green New Deal vs Sanders-AOC Green New Deal
States Must Serve Individuals & Groups, not Vice Versa
NT Representative Government vs. Statism
Related sources for morality-based democracy:
Two Treatises of Government—John Locke
Keyphrase: morality-based democracy:
